Sibling Support
by Admeet
Summary: During the night in the dairy barn in the snow, Patch gives help to a long time friend.


Winter was in full swing. The seemingly never ending blizzards continued to sweep through the huge expanse of the English countryside. Standing through this barrage of snow was an old dairy farm upon a small hill. While on average days this would've been home to just some cows, tonight it was the temporary home for a much larger party.

Taking up almost all of the floor space was probably one of the largest amassment of dogs the world had ever seen. 101 Dalmatians silently slept through the harsh night with another dog, a Rough Collie, standing guard outside. 99 of these Dalmatians were puppies and they were all exhausted from their incredibly long trek across the frozen countryside. All had received food from the resident cows in the form of milk and all were sleeping soundly: well most of them.

In the middle of the sea of spots was a puppy with a single black patch over his right eye. Patch, being one of the more active in the original brood of Dalmatians, was still eager to waste a little more energy before finally surrendering to tiredness. But he knew he couldn't frolic about without waking every single animal within the barn. Instead he contemplated on the recent events.

This had been the wildest adventure in his life so far; he was sure of that. Infact, he thought it could be a great plot within a Thunderbolt cartoon. But the fact that they had evaded many treacherous encounters with Cruella and the Baduns and that they all had survived the battle against the elements amazed him. Something inside him made him think that they were all eventually but definitely going to make it back to the safety of their home in London. Staring at the sea of spots surrounding him, he started to slowly let himself drift off to sleep.

His ear twitched. A voice shivered. He immediately perked his head up and looked around the old barn. All of the puppies were motionless apart from their chests rising and falling while breathing. It didn't take long before he pin pointed the voice to a puppy off to the side by the wooden wall. Indeed this puppy was shivering. There weren't that many features upon this puppy apart from only a few spots on the ears and on her body. "Penny?" he thought. Instinctively, he began to silently creep over the carpet of puppies towards her. He had gotten used to sneaking over the pile of spotted puppies back at home if he couldn't sleep or if he had a quick and small midnight snack.

Patch quickly made it over to the edge where Penny lay shivering on the cold cobble stone floor. "Hey" he whispered looking down on her. She only lifted an eye to him and continued to shudder. "I'm cold" she whispered back. Feeling sorry for her, he lay down beside her to give her some of his warmth. She brought her nuzzle close to his to try and retain some of his warmth.

There was somehow a calmer atmosphere within the barn now as the pair continued to stare at the black and white sea. Penny turned her head to Patch's. "Did you get much food" she asked referring to their feast on milk. "Yeah" he whispered back, "I probably had the same amount that Rolly would have in Kanine Krunchies". The two puppies giggled quietly but Penny looked concerned. "I didn't get much food as I was pushed out of the way" she continued, "I'm still pretty hungry". Now it was patch's turn to look concerned. Not only did Penny not get enough food but they couldn't get some now as the cows were asleep. But then he remembered seeing the Collie give Mum and Dad what looked like bread. He sat up and looked over in the direction of the two adults. Sure enough, there was one slice of bread lying next to them. "Wait here, Penny" Patch whispered, "I'm gonna get you something to eat". But he was immediately faced with the same problem he had coming to her.

Now he had to get to the other side of the serene ocean of black and white without creating a great disturbance. But as ever he was eager to continue perfecting his skill and immediately started to tip toe through it. Getting his footing was the easy part: only knowing where to place a foot was the hard part. With each step he was edging closer to the slice of bread.

His foot landed on something soft. It moved. The owner snorted. Patch froze in terror as he had just stepped on the tail of Rolly. The plump puppy shifted and snorted from the sudden contact. But he kept his eyes closed and continued to lightly snore away through slumber. Patch sighed in relief and crept on over the slumbering individuals.

Eventually he reached the edge where Mum and Dad were sleeping soundly. The slice of bread was lying unfortunately right next to Dad's nose. This time he knew he had to be extra careful. Silently he crept over to his father making sure that each of his short breaths was silenced. The bread was now a jaw lengths away; now was his chance. He lightly clenched the crust of the bread in his mouth being careful not to get any saliva on it. Suddenly, Dad yawned. Patch once again froze in place scared that he would wake up someone. But Dad only released his unconscious yawn and went straight back into his slumber. Patch sighed again; he was having too many close calls this time. But now he had to get back over to penny with the bread in tow.

An instant idea popped into his head. He flung the bread onto his back and made sure to keep himself steady. Slowly yet again he tip toed over the still ocean of spots. For quite a small task, this was turning out to be a huge ordeal. But at least he knew it would make Penny happy.

After what seemed like a long time, he made it back to the hungry pup. "Here you go" Patch whispered grabbing the slice of bread and laying it next to Penny. The hungry puppy started taking small bites from the bread. Patch lay by Penny again as the hungry pup nibbled away at the small feast. Feeling that this mission was successful, Patch smiled towards his sister. Penny, in the middle of nibbling a small chunk of bread, smiled back at him.

Ever since they had first met each other in the once smaller sea of black and white, the two felt that they had never been apart since then. Occasionally they would be apart for their different activities but for rest of the time, they were commonly found playing together. They may well have been the best brother and sister pair the world had ever seen.

Penny finished off the last piece of the bread and snuggled closer with Patch. "Thank you" Penny whispered appreciating Patch's efforts. In return, Patch nuzzled Penny affectionately. Penny then yawned signalling her tiredness with Patch thinking the same thing – sleep. The two snuggled up to each other and proceeded to drift off to sleep. Tomorrow was a new day and it would be the last push towards London. The two kept their spirits high for they knew they had their Mum and Dad to guide them through the countryside, the other puppies so eager to get back to London, and most importantly each other. With a final look at Penny, Patch drifted off to sleep and waited for the new day to arrive.


End file.
